Steve C.

I had been looking for either a C2 or C3 project car for several months and found this one about 50 miles from my home rear Raleigh NC. Originally a 327/300 hp TH350 car it had been converted to a BB at some point and then through a series of events ended up liked you see it in the pics below. I have the matching numbers 327 (in large pieces) but not the trans. The frame has been POR-15 coated and several of the suspension components are new. The plan is to do an LSx-T56 install along with C5 or ?? seats and Vintage Air. Probably take a few years to get it together but like most cars will never be completely "finished". This is my fifth Vette, gone but not forgotten are my 61, 62 & 92. This 68 and my 04 ZO6 Z16 are currently sharing my roof. The outdoor pics are outside the POs shop, the suspension pics are after the tow home to my shop.

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SmokedTires

Looks like a good starting platform

682XLR8

Good to see another 68 coming back to life

jr9170

Steve C.

Thanks Guyz, there are several great examples of rescued cars on this forum, hopefully I can measure up to their standards and not **** the NCRS folks off too badly with my planned mods. I figure any Corvette than doesn't end up in pieces in the boneyard is a good thing for everyone. The only things I've pissed off so far are the roaches, mice and other vermin that lost a fiberglass home.

kdf1986

I have always wanted to do a restomod, but did not want to cut up a perfectly good vette. It looks like you found a good starting point to do that. You are starting from scratch. Cant wait to see what you come up with.

kdf

Poppa Bud

You are a brave man.

Best of luck to you!

Steve C.

I'll try to keep some sort of record going here or maybe a better place would be over in the LSx sticky. In either case it's gonna take some time due to work related travel and of course the problem most of us have in funding our toys while trying to keep a roof over our heads and keep the family feed.

I'm not sure if I'm a brave man to take on the project or a stupid one, guess only time will tell. My 62 turned out OK and it was pretty bad off when I got it back in the late 70s, so I'm hoping this one goes as well. It should actually go better since there are way more reproduction parts available today than there were back then.

richard emmanuel

Well Steve you really have your work cut out for you but it will be tons of fun. I saved my 77 from the grave and 15 years later I am still having fun with her. I am in process now of removing rear glass and installing a 72 pop out rear glass, I also recently purchased fiero seats and will also install them once i make new brackets for seat tracks. By the way I am in Charlotte. There is a guy outside winston salem with 3 buildings of c3 parts I deal with his name is Reggie and he is very fair. I got my popout window, with all the hardware in great condition for 200.00, he even gave me a nice window seal but I ordered a new one since it was only 35.oo from RIKS in Morganton. Anyhow keep us updated and if you run into any trouble shoot me an email.
Richard

ElCid79

Take great notes. Its important. As these tend to draw on, and on. Haha. Here is a spreadsheet that I made to do just that. http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...-released.html

Steve C.

Thanks for the leads and contact offer, I do need several C3 parts and pieces that didn't come with the project so I will more than likely be spending some face time with Reggie. I'll actually be cruising though CLT on my way to Greenville SC on Saturday with the whole clan packed in my truck, they said it was roomier than the C5 that I planned to drive. Quick trip down and back, not my idea of fun but what a guy to do I'm outnumbered, again.

Steve C.

Great Minds think alike or so they say. My SO said the exact same thing after I got the poor old beast settled into her new home in my shop. I think she's just curious as to how much money I'm going to pour into this project and I'm sure it's a valid concern. As we all know our toys can get expensive. She set up a spreadsheet on our main PC at home, not as nice as yours but it's a start.

ElCid79

love the 68 and 69s. They are my favorite year ever. Perhaps one day.

SOMFormula

Wow! What an awesome project!!!!

I found my 1980 in much better shape, but I'm really not a NCRS fan, myself. I actually like the idea of the resto-mod direction. So, I'm anxious to watch your project unfold.

BTW, I'm doing a LS1 w/4L60E conversion in my '80. With a lot of modern touches. So, feel free to post up your progress and pics. I'll be more then happy to view them, hahahahahaha.

Good luck with your project and look forward to seeing your progress.

Steve C.

Thanks! I think it's going to be interesting, frustrating and ultimately rewarding to get the old girl back on her feet. The odometer says 135,000 miles and from what I can tell they weren't very gentle miles. Plan to get the body off and take a close look at the frame soon. Since it's already been coated with POR 15 I'm hoping to find a nice clean frame in the areas I can't see from the bottom. If it was a 4 spd car and I had the original tranny I might consider putting it back semi stock but since I only have the the partially disassembled matching numbers 327 long block I think the restomod LSx direction will be the way to go. I'm hoping it will cruise as well as my ZO6 does, just went to Savannah and back and averaged 29.5 mpg with a little showing off to one of my coworkers while we were there!!! Gotta love that EFI.

binster

Looks like a fun project.. I'm down in Cary, NC..

6t9427

Mine looked like that at one time, around 1984.
The bodyman asked 1 question "Why?"
I responded with "It's the only one I have."
I've had my car longer than Wife, Kids, Dogs, and House.
Good luck with the project.

Steve C.

Thanks, according to the old title, the same person owned the car from 1983 until I bought it last month, I don't have an history before that. I think it will come back to life but not without some effort and $$$$$$. Looking at some of the other early C3 on this forum (and others) is pretty good motivation.

Steve C.

I've got some other projects including house remodeling to wrap up before I really dig into the car, starting to gather bits and pieces as I can. Maybe we'll see you at one of the local shows this summer, haven't been to Lake Wheeler in a year or two with the 04, need to get tuned back into what's happening on the weekend show circuit.

Steve C.

Had some time today to dig into the 68 and clean some things up and take a better look at the chassis after getting some new jack stands last weekend.

Found a couple of things I hadn't noticed before, not too happy about them but that's what happens when you buy something without really crawling around it.

Here's the passenger side motor mount:

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Did some crude measurements and the mount appears to be in the correct location but will have to do some additional measuring to see if it's right. Definitely going to redo the bubba welding and plating.

Started to pull the trans cross member and found more evidence of bubbas repair efforts. I've never had a Vette with an auto/removable cross member so I assume there a nuts welded into the frame. Guess one came loose at some point. No problem, just cut a hole in the frame and reach up in to put a new nut on!!!!

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Looks like the bird cage isn't too bad

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This thing should keep me off the streets for awhile, definitely needs more attention than I thought but like I said it's my fault for not digging into it enough before I wrote the check.

Quite a bit of damage to the nose/front fenders, may be easier and better to just put a complete front clip on it, will have to see how the repairs go.